Scorsese’s “Irishman” May Not Go Theatrical

The film officially began shooting two months ago with plans for a 2019 release, and this week Netflix’s head of film publicity Julie Fontaine tells Variety: “it’s premature to say anything at this point” about potential theatrical distribution for the film – something it would require for awards consideration.

Scorsese reportedly asked for a commitment from Netflix on the condition that “The Irishman” would receive a 2019 theatrical release. Scott Stuber, Netflix’s film division chief, reportedly assured Scorsese that the film would receive at minimum a two-week theatrical run.

Scorsese has yet to have a film not released in theaters and while a date hasn’t yet been confirmed, this one could well be day-and-date. “The Irishman” initially had a budget of $100 million but that is reportedly only going upwards and currently stands at $125 million due to the use de-aging and aging technology to depict Robert de Niro and Al Pacino‘s characters at different stages of their lives in the story of the hitman who was purported to kill Teamster leader Jimmy Hoffa.

Netflix’s first real foray into big budget movie making for their service, next month’s “Bright,” is coming direct to the streamer only and isn’t going theatrical.